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The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Smeesters, D; Wheeler, SC; Kay, AC
Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology
February 2009

The present research suggests that biased interpersonal perceptions can mediate prime-to-behavior effects and introduces a new moderator for when such mediation will occur. Across 5 experiments, the authors provide evidence that priming effects on behavior in interpersonal contexts are mediated by social perceptions, but only when participants are focused on the other person. These effects occur when other-focus is primed (Experiment 1), when other-focus is high owing to the decision-making situation (Experiment 2), and when other-focus is dispositionally high (Experiment 3). Experiments 4 and 5 bring additional support for a biased perception account by ruling out an alternative behavior-perception link and showing that other-focus can moderate not only the mediating mechanism of prime-to-behavior effects but also the behavioral effects themselves. The implications of these results for increasing understanding of behavioral priming effects in rich social contexts are discussed.

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Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

February 2009

Volume

96

Issue

2

Start / End Page

395 / 414

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Psychology
  • Social Perception
  • Social Behavior
  • Language
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Humans
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

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Smeesters, D., Wheeler, S. C., & Kay, A. C. (2009). The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 395–414. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012959
Smeesters, Dirk, S Christian Wheeler, and Aaron C. Kay. “The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96, no. 2 (February 2009): 395–414. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012959.
Smeesters D, Wheeler SC, Kay AC. The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2009 Feb;96(2):395–414.
Smeesters, Dirk, et al. “The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 96, no. 2, Feb. 2009, pp. 395–414. Epmc, doi:10.1037/a0012959.
Smeesters D, Wheeler SC, Kay AC. The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2009 Feb;96(2):395–414.

Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

February 2009

Volume

96

Issue

2

Start / End Page

395 / 414

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Psychology
  • Social Perception
  • Social Behavior
  • Language
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Humans
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology